Realization
by SmartBlonde132012
Summary: How Peeta comforted Katniss the first time after one of her nightmares. This is how I would write it. I know the summary isn't very good, but the story is MUCH better, I promise!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everybody! I'm taking a break from my other story and writing this. Review and tell me what you think! Also, Katniss' nightmare is after the feast in the first Games, and after that it's in her room on the train coming home from the Capitol. Oh, and I'm gonna do the thing where you post some lyrics on here and you have to guess the name of the song and who it's by. If I update this again-which I most likely will-I'll give a shout out to the people that guessed correctly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or the lyrics.**

_**Do you mean all the things you are?**_

_**Are you pleased with the way things are?**_

_**Wear that dress to protect the scar**_

_**That only I have seen.**_

_I'm running through the arena, trying desperately to get back to mine and Peeta's cave. I hold on to the backpack containing Peeta's medicine tighter as I run through a river. When I get to the other side, I stop for a second to wipe blood from eyes, and then I'm running again._

_When I reach the cave, I almost collapse from exhaustion, blood loss, and relief. I open the backpack and bring out a syringe filled with a clear liquid, and turn to look at the place where Peeta is still sleeping._

_Or where he _should_ be sleeping._

_I look around the cave again, and sure enough, he isn't there. I start to panic, and soon I'm running all over the cave, calling out his name, with tears streaming down my face. I rush outside, still calling his name, when I hear the voice behind me._

"_He's gone, but don't worry. You'll be joining him soon enough."_

_I whirl around, reaching for an arrow in the process, but only to discover that all of my weapons have mysteriously disappeared. And it couldn't have been better timing, because as I look at Cato, with murder written in his eyes, all I can think of is how much I wish I at least had my knife._

_Something above Cato's head catches my eye, and, to my horror, I see Peeta, hanging lifelessly from a noose Cato has managed to fit in between a fissure in the rocks. Cato starts to laugh, a cruel, heartless, evil laugh, but I pay no attention to him. All I can do is scream at Peeta's body, beg him to say something, anything, stare into those blank eyes, which have permanently lost their warmth…_

I shoot straight up in bed, panting like I've just run ten miles, tears still in my eyes, my throat hoarse from screaming so much. I'm so scared by my dream, I almost jump a foot in the air when a pair of warm hands grabs my shoulders.

"Katniss, are you okay?" Peeta asks. Peeta. I've never been so happy to hear his voice. I start to sob with relief. I don't even think twice when I launch myself into his arms, which move to hold me instantly. One wraps around my waist, and the other moves to stroke my hair. He pulls me towards him so I can sit on his lap, and I don't complain. In fact, my heartbeat picks up a little bit. I pull back just a little bit so I can look into his eyes, and I remember their blank stare in my dream, and I start to sob again. He pulls me against him, laying my head down on his chest while he whispers in my ear.

"Shhh. It's okay Katniss…you're safe…..you're okay…shhh."

He whispers things like this to me for a while, I don't know how long, but I do know he never stops whispering, or stroking my hair. When I finally stop crying, Peeta loosens his grip for me to pull back so we can look at each other. I look in to his eyes, his beautiful, sapphire eyes, and I have the urge to never look away. I feel it again too, that warmth in my stomach from the cave when he kissed me. I touch my forehead to his, and I hear his breath hitch.

"Please, don't leave me," I whisper.

Determination, promise, and…something else fills his eyes as he whispers back, "Never. I promise."

I don't know who leans in first, but all I know is I do not want to be the one who pulls away first. His lips are soft on mine, gentle, and warm. I can smell the faint scent of cinnamon and dill, like he just got back from working at the bakery, and it makes the warmth in my stomach grow even more, and suddenly, just this is not enough. My arms go to wrap around his neck and, as if reading my mind, Peeta's arms go to wrap around my waist, pulling us closer. My heartbeat quickens even more, if possible. We kiss like this for a while, and something-instinct, I guess-makes me run my tongue across his bottom lip. He opens his mouth and his tongue enters my mouth and massages my tongue, which causes me to moan. He runs his tongue along mine, and suddenly, our tongues are locked in….a battle, I guess you could say. I turn in his lap so my legs are on either side of him, and we are facing each other. My hands go from his neck to tangle in his golden curls, and he leans back on the bed so I lay on top of him. This goes on for what felt like hours, but was most likely a couple of minutes, before we pull away to catch our breathes, but even then I only put my forehead against his. I look in to his eyes, his beautiful eyes, and find myself lost in a sea of blue.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks while pushing a lock of my hair back, which had come out of its braid during our kiss. I cup his face in my hands. "You have the most beautiful eyes." I say, which is very unlike myself, but with Peeta, I now know I can let my walls down with him. Because, as I look into his eyes, I know he will never do anything to hurt me. I know now, as he looks up at me with a bright spark in his eyes, that I was so stupid to have ever doubted that his love for me was real.

Peeta smiles at me, the smile that I love so much. I smile back, and run my fingers through his hair, another thing I love, and his eyes. Oh, his eyes. I think about Peeta, about everything he is, what he loves, what he hates. I think of some of my favorite things about him. His hair, how soft it feels under my fingers. His voice, how he can tell me everything I need to hear one moment, and how he can make a crowd believe anything else another. His arms, how they hold me tightly to him, and offer me the comfort I need. His ability to see the good in the most horrendous people, no matter how awful they are. There's so many things about him I love, I can't even name them all, but I love every one of them. I love them all. I love _him_.

I love him. I love Peeta Mellark, and he loves me. Just the thought brings a smile to my face that's so big, my cheeks start to hurt. Peeta notices and laughs. His laugh. Another thing I love about him. "What?" he asks. "You love me," I say, still smiling like an idiot. He grins at me. "I do. So? You already knew that." I kiss his lips softly for a moment before pulling away. I lean in and whisper in his ear, "Because I love you too." I pull back and look at the stunned expression on his face, his eyes filled with hope, and I smile and lean in to kiss him again, but this time is different.

I pour all of my love into this kiss, letting him know I love him, how sorry I am for not realizing it sooner and how I'm ready now. Once he gets over his shock, Peeta kisses me back just as lovingly. He strokes my cheek with his thumb, and uses his other arm to pull me closer. I lock my hands in his hair again, and pull his mouth closer to me. The kiss becomes more hungry, more urgent. I open my mouth and instantly his tongue meets mine, and we kiss each other as though the moment we break apart, we'll never see each other again. Peeta flips us on the bed so he's on top of me now. I hook one of my legs around his hip, and let my hands wander from his hair down his chest and stomach to the hem of his shirt, which I tug on as a message I hope Peeta will get. Thankfully he does, and he breaks the kiss to remove it and toss it on the floor. I run my hands over his muscular chest, and over his abs. He moans and lays us back down. He starts to kiss my neck, and I run his hair through my fingers again. He kisses my collarbone and moves all the way back up to suck gently on the skin under my earlobe, which in turn makes me moan loudly. He smiles against my skin, and continues where he left off. He trails down again and starts to kiss and suck on my neck. I close my eyes, in complete and utter bliss. He gets to my collarbone again, and pulls down the collar of my shirt to kiss me more.

I was starting to get hot. Too hot. I found myself thinking of things I've never given thought to before, and I knew that if I didn't stop this right now, I might regret it sometime later in my life. Plus, I had _just_ told Peeta I loved him, what, a couple minutes ago? I didn't want to take things too quickly, so, as much as I hated to do it, I pulled Peeta away from me and looked in to his eyes again.

"Not tonight," I say. "Maybe some night, but not tonight." He rolls over so we're laying on our sides, and nods understandingly. "Okay. I completely understand. I don't want to make you do something you don't want to-" I cut him off with a kiss. "I didn't say _that_," I say, blushing. "I do want to, but I think we should take things slower." He nods in agreement with me, and goes to get out of bed when I grab his arm.

"Where are you going?" I ask, now remembering the reason he came in my room in the first place. If he leaves and I fall back asleep, I will be plagued by nightmares, I know it. He smiles reassuringly at me and kisses me on my forehead. "I told you I'd never leave you, remember?" His eyes soften, and he leans down and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. I blush when I realize he was only getting his shirt. He lays it at the foot of the bed and I scoot over in the bed to make room for him.

He pulls the covers back and climbs in beside me, and I immediately scoot closer to him. I lay my head on the pillow so close to Peeta's head, I can feel his breath on my face. I put one arm over him, and let my hand rest on his back, while my other hand goes to rest over his heart. He wraps one arm around my waist-and uses it to pull me closer to him-and puts the other under my head to use as a pillow, even though I have one. But as I lay my head down on his arm, and find it a much better pillow than the one I had been using. While his arm is muscular-not that I'm complaining-his bare skin is as soft as silk.

As I'm drifting off to sleep, I snuggle in closer to Peeta. He presses his lips to my temple and murmurs "I love you" over and over again. Right before sleep over takes me, I whisper, "I love you, too"

I fall asleep feeling protected, happy, and completely blissful.

**There you go! So, should I continue or not? If I get more than 10 reviews, I'll update!**

**-SmartBlonde132012**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or the lyrics.**

The sound of someone knocking on my door stirs me from a blissful sleep. "Katniss!" Effie shouts from the other side of the door. "Wake up! It's going to be a big, big, big day!" I don't answer, and instead lie down again and curl up next to Peeta, who is still asleep, and smile slightly as his arm tightens around my waist unconsciously. The pounding on my door gets louder until it stops all together. I think that Effie has finally given up on trying to wake me up when she suddenly bursts through the door.

I give a small yelp of surprise which causes Peeta to wake up immediately and pull me closer to him. Effie stands in the doorway, jaw on the floor. Under different circumstances, I might have laughed. But, seeing as how Effie has a look of horror and disgust on her face, I can see she's thinking something else happened. It takes me a moment to realize what she must be thinking of, and I blush scarlet at the thought. But I can see where she would get the idea. I mean, Peeta and I are wrapped around each other so much we look more like one person then two, Peeta's shirtless, and he's in my bed. When I finally open my mouth to tell Effie it isn't what she assumes it is, she finally regains her composure and closes the door. But she was in such hurry she more or less slammed it. Peeta chuckles a little, and I look up at him to find a small smile on his face. I reach up and brush his curls back and lean up to kiss his cheek. "Morning," I say. He kisses my forehead in return, then gives me a small kiss on the lips. "Morning," he whispers back.

He closes his eyes and leans his forehead on mine. "Did last night…..really happen?" he asks. I smile. "Well, if you mean me telling you that I love you, and experiencing one of the best kisses that I'll probably ever have, then yes, last night really happened." He presses his lips to mine again, but this time with more force. I feel his tongue run across my bottom lip, and I open my mouth for him. I feel his tongue slide into my mouth and rub against my own, and I moan but pull away. The look on Peeta's face is priceless, and I laugh. I climb out of bed and offer him my hand.

"Come on," I say. "If we don't get to breakfast soon, Effie will have every attendant on this train looking for us." Peeta laughs and takes my hand. He pulls on his shirt and gives me a quick kiss before heading off to his room to shower and change clothes. I quickly do the same and braid my wet hair. When I enter the dining room I find Effie, Peeta and Haymitch sitting at the table. I smile at Peeta and take a seat beside him.

While we eat, Effie drums her fingers on the table and flicks her gaze between Peeta and me when she thinks we're not looking. After ten minutes of this, I start to get irritated. I stand up and everybody looks at me, but I only look at Effie.

"We both know you have something to say, so just spit it out already!" Everybody-except for Peeta and Effie, of course-looks confused. I glance at Peeta, and he seems very interested with the table, and Effie looks a little taken aback. She quickly recovers, and motions for me and Peeta to follow her into the room where we watched the recaps so the prep teams and Avoxes **(did I spell that right?)** won't hear us.

Once we get there, she closes the door and motions for us to take a seat on the couch. Peeta pulls me on to his lap and wraps an arm around my waist, and I instantly lay my head on his chest. Effie sees and presses her lips together in a line, but says nothing. She sits in a chair beside the couch, and is quiet for a moment. Finally, she turns to Peeta.

"Peeta, maybe we should start with why you were in Katniss's room this morning?" I open my mouth to snap at her, but Peeta answers her quickly, as if knowing what I was going to do. "I heard her screaming last night and got worried, so I went to her room." Effie turns to me now. "Why were you screaming?" I narrow my eyes at her. "Nightmare," I snap. She would have them too if she was forced to go through hell, and on top of that, have to go through it the boy she loved. Peeta squeezes my waist, as if to remind me that he's here, that we both made it. I look at him and give him a small smile, and snuggle a little more in to his chest.

Effie lets out an exasperated sigh. "Look, all I'm saying is that I think it's inappropriate at your age to that sort of thing on a train filled with people." I start to ask her what she's talking about, but then I remember how she found us this morning; Peeta shirtless in my bed, us wrapped around each other, I blush scarlet, and quickly try to reassure her that she's gotten the wrong idea. "Oh….you thought we were…..no, no…..we…" I stop. I've never been good with words. That's Peeta's specialty. I look at him desperately, trying to get him to explain to her. He understands perfectly, thank goodness.

"Effie," he begins. "I can understand where you would get the idea, but Katniss and I both agree that we aren't ready for….._that…._yet." If possible, I blush even more and hide my face in his chest. He pauses for a moment to stroke my hair, and then continues where he left off. "I think we can all agree that we aren't the same as we were before we entered the arena. Look at Haymitch, for example. He deals with his issues with drinking. That's what he found that helps him. In the arena, Katniss and I both discovered the fear of what it would be like to lose each other. We both have taken that fear with us into our dreams, unfortunately. I don't know about her, but sometimes my nightmares are worse than the arena itself, because my mind can come up with even worse situations where I could lose her than when we were in the arena. Sometimes, they feel so real, I think they've actually happened. But it helps me…._a lot_… to wake up and see her sleeping safely beside me."

He looks at me, judging my expression to see if I'm angry with him for any reason, but all I can do is look at him in awe. He knew exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't, and I love him for that. He grins at me and kisses my nose, and turns back to Effie. "So it doesn't matter what other people say. Let them think what they want. I don't care. And I think I can safely say that Katniss feels the same way." He looks at, and I nod. "I don't want to sound rude Effie, but you can either get over the fact that this is what helps us, or well-"

"Shut up and deal with it," I finish for him. I stand up, pulling Peeta up with me, and we go back to breakfast, leaving a stunned looking Effie behind.

After breakfast, Peeta and I head back to my room. As soon as he closes the door, I kiss him fiercely. It takes him a moment to get over his surprise, but when he does, he kisses me back with as much fierceness. When we pull away, he leans his forehead against mine. "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining," he quickly adds. I smile at him and say, "Because I love you." His eyes shine, and he pulls me in for another kiss, but this one is more like the one from last night. Not that I have a problem with it.

Peeta breaks the kiss long enough to pull me on the bed and sit me in his lap, and starts to kiss me again. After a few minutes of this, he starts to kiss my neck. I sigh, and tangle my fingers in his hair. He kisses down to my collarbone, then back up to kiss the spot beneath my ear. I moan quietly and pull him closer, if possible. He pulls away enough to whisper in my ear. "I hate to say this, but we should probably get ready. We'll be home in about thirty minutes."

Home.

Prim, my mother, Gale. I've missed them so much, it hurts. And I'll be home with them in a matter of minutes.

Just as Peeta says this, Effie knocks on the door and tells us to be ready for the cameras in a couple of minutes. Then the distinct click of her heels as she walks off.

The brakes squeal as the train pulls in to the train station. I can see the flashes of cameras from the window, but I can't see the three faces I so desperately want to see. I close the curtain and go to stand beside Peeta. I take his hand in mine and squeeze it. "Ready?" Peeta asks. I can see the nervousness in his eyes, and I stand on my toes and kiss him gently. "Ready as I'll ever be." A couple minutes later, the train doors open, and Effie goes out first, followed by Haymitch, and finally me and Peeta. Once the crowd sees us, the cameras flash insanely, and we're bombarded with questions. Some of these people are a little too close for comfort, so I move close to Peeta, who immedetly wraps his arm around my waist. The crowd goes insane at this.

Then I hear it.

"Katniss!"

Out of all the people yelling my name, this one sticks out over all the rest. The last time I heard that voice was at the Justice Building, pleading with the Peacekeepers not to take me.

"Prim! Prim!" I yell over the crowd.

"Katniss!" The crowd parts, and my legs are being tackled by a girl with a braid in her hair much like mine. Her shirt has come untucked in the back, making it look like a duck tail. I almost break down at the sight of it.

Peeta understandably lets go of me and goes to find his own family. I drop to my knees so I can hug my sister properly. "Katniss," She sobs my name into my shoulder over and over again. "I'm here Prim, it's okay," I say, even though I feel like sobbing too. Instead I hug her so tightly I'm afraid I'm crushing her.

Someone taps me on my shoulder, and I look up to see my mother. I let go of Prim and surprise all of us when I fling myself into her arms and hug her as tightly as I did Prim. This goes on for a while, until I hear him.

"Welcome home, Catnip."

Gale.

I let go of my mother and turn to face my best friend that I haven't seen in almost a month.

I'm about to give him a bone crushing home too, but then I notice the look in his eyes. It's a look of betrayal, hurt, and anger. I don't say anything, because at the moment I am surrounded by cameras, but I make a silent vow to ask him about this whenever I get a chance.

I feel an arm wrap around my waist, and Peeta's whispering in my ear. "The car's here. Are you ready?" I nod, and motion my mother and Prim to follow me. I turn to wave at Gale, and notice him staring daggers at Peeta's arm. He lifts his gaze to me and I see pure hatred in his eyes. Once he sees me looking at him, he drops his gaze. But it's pointless. I've already seen it.

**A/N: Chapter 2! Hope y'all liked it! But I won't know unless you, say it with me, REVIEW! So go ahead, read this little note and press that button!**

**Also, shout out to the ONE PERSON who guessed the song correctly in my last chapter! "c**_**andygirl98," **_**you rock! The song was Story by Maroon 5. Listen to it if you haven't heard it before, it's a really good song! So, here are the lyrics for this chapter.**

_**And I'll go sit on the floor**_

_**Wearing your clothes**_

_**All that I know is I don't know**_

_**How to be something you miss**_

**Good luck and thank you all for reading!**

**-SmartBlonde132012**


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